Official spin: Twitter -- https://twitter.com -- helps you follow your interests with instant updates from your friends, industry experts and breaking news from around the world.

Our take: Twitter is a global poetry slam. Say something brilliant or quote someone wise. You can tweet your own horn or remix the work of others. Please remember to be generous in your interaction with others. If you are not favoriting and retweeting others, you're not making the most of this social web channel. This page explores good practices with multiple levels of engagement.

Tweets can be local or come from far, far away.

For conservationists/environmentalists/outdoor folk, learning to Twitter is a meaning of doing more good by increasing the impact of a campaign or public awarenes

Twitter Tips

Twitter works best when you learn the basics: #, @ and MT.

If you are brand new to Twitter, commit to a sending a tweet (or more) a day for at least one month. Find a routine that works for you, but commit to it. If you send out monthly messages or less, the engagement factor is nil. Short sweet tweets are the most effective. Give your friends (aka followers) something to like and retweet.

Retweeting extends the exposure of a single tweet ... in large numbers, think 'viral marketing' ... in small numbers, not so much viral but a good indication of interest and willingness to connect. Plus, Twitter’s Top Tweet algorithm calculates a tweet’s value according to the engagement it has. The more retweets, replies and favorites, the higher it is valued.

Tips: Levels of Engagement

Be attentive - Take a look at someone's twitter account
Be attentive - Check out interactions, aka notifications
Be attentive - See who has mentioned you
Be generous - Give kudos to someone by mentioning them in your tweet
Be generous - Retweet favorite messages
Be creative - Add your picture to your Twitter Profile
Be creative - Create your own Twitter list
Be curious - Search for a topic or place of interest in which you are not intimately familiar

Settings / PersonalizationWe’re updating our privacy policy to bring you a more personalized Twitter experience. We’ll soon be making Twitter more relevant by using your visits to sites with Twitter content. And we’ve given you even more control over your data.Sounds goodReview settings

Worksheet: What To Tweet on Twitter

What to tweet on Twitter

1) Messages that are of interest to you and your readers
2) What you recommend reading
3) URLs of favorite Flickr photos, Pinterest albums and videos on YouTube, TED and other channels
4) What you recommend listening from radio stations and podcasts
5) Anniversaries and special dates
6) Local food
7) Local weather
8) Testimonials and comments you have overheard from others

Wat om op Twitter aan-te-stuur of te wel her-tweet

Wat om NIE op Twitter te kommunikeer nie

1) Sake of gebeure waarin jy nie belangestel nie

Quotes

It's always seemed to me a bit odd when people criticise Twitter because of the 140-character limit. I'm sure there are lots of things you could criticise Twitter for, but to suggest, as some people like to do, that a tweet isn't real communication simply because it's so brief is a bit like suggesting that Haiku isn't poetry just because it's over almost before it gets started.
- Antony Funnel, Future Tense

About 1,000 climate change protesters are making their way to Blackheath in south-east London where they plan to set up camp for a week. Activists had been gathering in central London waiting to swoop on a site kept secret by organisers. The protesters were informed by text and Twitter.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/8222488.stm

Often, I find myself in a new city or country, unsure despite all my research of exactly what to do, see or eat next. But thanks to Twitter and the 424-and-counting readers who officially follow my updates, I can instantly poll the world for suggestions.
- Matt Gross, Help for Travelers @Twitter

Twitter -- which limits each text-only post to 140 characters -- is to 2008 what the blogosphere was to 2004 ... Twitter posts can be searched instantly, without waiting for Google to index them. As a writer, though, I'm onto the system's real appeal: brevity. Bloggers today are expected to write clever, insightful, witty prose to compete with Huffington and The New York Times. Twitter's character limit puts everyone back on equal footing. It lets amateurs quit agonizing over their writing and cut to the chase.
- Paul Boutin, Twitter, Flickr, Facebook Make Blogs Look So 2004

Man walks into Doctor’s and says “Doctor, I think I’m addicted to Twitter.” Doctor looks at him and says “Sorry, I don’t follow you.
- Popular joke

Twitter is another way of talking with people, just like email, or instant messaging or the telephone. But unlike those systems, it's a way to broadcast to a group of people who've purposely decided they want to hear from you or for you to only hear from a group you've selected.
- Danny Sullivan, Editor-In-Chief, Search Engine Land

Twitter is not a new media. It's the global conversation we've always thirsted for.
- Jack Dorsey, executive chairman of Twitter, CEO of Four Square

Pet Peeves

I ignore and deplore tweets that come with a Facebook link. Is there any way to nudge Facebookers away from this practice? It's easier for them to send the message, but more difficult for them to be aware of any interactions.

People who use tweets to repeatedly say 'follow me on Facebook'

I dislike the way Twitter suggests 'who to follow' including people who have not tweeted for months or years!

I wish I could search my favorites.

You may only attach 100 widgets to a Twitter account.

You cannot make a video call via Twitter

Followers who then unfollow you when you don't follow back and then refollow you again.

Translation Request: 'If I follow you and you retweet someone, that person's tweet ends up in my timeline.'

Top Tweets: Twitter/Storify Connection

Twitter and LinkedIn: How can I continue to share updates on both LinkedIn and Twitter? (June 2012)

Simply start your conversation on LinkedIn. Compose your update, check the box with the Twitter icon, and click “Share.” This will automatically push your update to both your LinkedIn connections and your Twitter followers just as before.

Twitter has partnered with Yext so you can control your listings on a full network of premium sites including Yahoo!, MapQuest & Yelp.

Curating

The value of Twitter

Twitter is a communication tool, so how does it work as a communication tool if communication is defined as a creative exchange of ideas or expressions between two or more parties? In other words, do you know if you are being heard on Twitter? It feels as if Twitter is millions of individuals shouting into the void or millions of individuals standing in a crowded room with everyone shouting randomly at each other. It is obvious that there is a value to Twitter as shown by its popularity, but I find the channel of communication to be either shallow because of its extraordinary depth.
Andres from Black Sheep Inn - ECUADOR @BlackSheepInn

These are great questions. If we define communication as a creative exchange of ideas, then Twitter has value when it connects people. Sometimes this can appear as a regular conversation in which someone asks a question and then receives an answer. Sometimes it can appear as this random web of trending topics and miscellany that fail to inspire.

My view: Twitter never has meaning until you follow people who inspire you. They can teach you, they can make you laugh or they can simply broaden your perspective. If you're not paying attention to anyone, odds are poor that anyone will be listening to you. And in a broader, more holistic notion of engagement, I outline above the various levels of engagement. Most are about being generous -- retweeting, embedding, acknowledging others.

If we review the business application of using Twitter, the folks running Guurrbi Tours in Australia had this to say when responding to a colleague who was also wary of Twitter: "I am now a Twitter convert. By using Tweet Deck and searching under 'Queensland' and 'Indigenous' for tweeters most likely to be interested in Guurrbi Tours, within a week my tweets (with links to our blog and website) were being retweeted on to thousands of people with similar interests, and I had connected with one particular Queensland website which added a huge feature on Guurrbi Tours, and within days was bringing visitors to our own website. I now see Facebook as keeping our travel company in the minds of existing friends, colleagues and customers, and Twitter to find new ones."

How do I add a Twitter button to my website?Twitter Tweet ButtonHow do I add a link to my Twitter account from my website?
Twitter has six different-sized buttons for use on your website or blog. If you head on over to http://twitter.com/goodies/buttons you'll see your range of choices, including the option of having the button say "follow me" or "follow us."

I notice that i receive sometimes the same twit from the same sender, at a few days interval. is that an acceptable practice?
If it's exactly the same tweet, I'd be annoyed. If it happens on a regular basis, stop following the person.

How to create RSS Feeds

Background

Twitter was launched on July 13, 2006, and has gone from a service then called Twttr to one of the biggest forces on the social web. 2011 numbers: delivers 350 billion tweets a day.

Mix it Up
Ron: What we have found most useful are the connections between Twitter and other pages. For example, if I tweet about any photo on Flickr, the # of views goes up substantially (and this can easily be tracked). I used to have to do this manually. Now Flickr is kind enough to provide the small icons that anyone can configure the site to tweet or facebook the images. We see the same set-up on blogs, slideshare, youtube and other sites.

Questions to ask organizations
Does your organization have a twitter account or a list of members on Twitter?

Questions to ask schools and universities
Does your school have a twitter account or a list of students/faculty/alumni on Twitter?

Twitter trends help you stay updated on what people are talking about around the web. You can change the list to reflect trends in your own country or select cities, worldwide and even trends tailored to your interests and those you follow.

Twitter is over capacity.

Please wait a moment and try again. For more information, check out Twitter Status »

Seeing Stars: Twitter Favorites

I like favorites as it creates a directory that's easy to return.
Example: https://twitter.com/#!/ronmader/favorites
But I don't see an easy way to find out if my posts have been favorited. Is there a way to tell if my tweets have been favorited?

What's a retweet? You can forward a tweet from someone else -- someone you follow or anyone on Twitter -- you add a link to the original sender. Retweeting is a form of flattery showing that you think enough of the message to spread the word. Think of the retweet as a show of confidence in the person being retweeted It also benefits you by highlighting your interests and showing your generosity. If you want to edit the text a bit, simply use the label followed by the @ and the account. This will direct your readers to the original source.

History

backgrounds

Tips

Retweet to spread the word. Share interesting tweets with your followers by hovering over a tweet and clicking "Retweet"
Do not protect your tweets if you want people to have access.

Background

In tourism workshops I am asked a lot about twitter. They're bitter, they're cynical and they have a right to be. This web tool has an annoying name that sounds like someone with a lisp trying to pronounced 'treat' and it's frankly difficult to explain what it is when the name is so awful. But so what? Is it useful?

The best way to see twitter in action in the tourism industry is to see the hashtags were or were not used by tourism events. The 2009 and 2010 WTM in London had no free wifi at the event which bothered a number of participants. I imagine a roll-over effect at travel events that becoming increasingly wired because to do otherwise will simply amplify the voices of the critics. In 2009 we saw initial use of hashtags at the Ecotourism New Zealand Conference and the Responsible Tourism Conference in Belize. In 2010 hashtags were used at the travel trade conference in New Zealand.

Twitter users can now organize users they follow (or users that they don’t) into groups, or “lists”. This article will help you get started with some lists basics and hopefully get you ready to make your own!

Events

Background

Most people use Twitter to answer the question of 'What are you doing?' Others are using Twitter to ask questions.

In 2008 I talked to the manager of tour company in Ecuador who uses Twitter to send communiques to staff. Was he worried that others might be following the conversation? Not at all. "If people want to pay attention to our company, so much the better," was the reply.

Tip - Twitter messages may be tagged using hashtags, a word or phrase prefixed with a #, such as #planeta.com. This enables tweets on a specific subject to be found by a search.

topsy

Customize Twitter by choosing who to follow. Then see tweets from those folks as soon as they're posted.

Twitter is a phenomenon that can be adapted to rural users. You don't have to tweet every 5 minutes. Imagine this scenario: what happens if you're on the computer and you read an article or see a video that accurately depicts your community. This could help open the eyes of potential visitors. If you tweet, then there's the opportunity for me and others to retweet, distribute the message further. But if you'd don't tweet, that opportunity disappears.

Recommendation: invest your time in what matters to you. Stay focused on your message and use the tools accordingly.

Misc
The question is - are they doing what's necessary to keep Twitter relevant? And I don't want to be the cheerleader here. Most people don't get it. They aren't Twitter literate, savvy or comfortable. But I take this as a political act. I think we're going to look at 2017 as the golden age of Twitter thanks to you-know-who and we might as well have some fun making the most of Twitter in these wonderful times.

Parody Accounts

@BPGlobalPR was created during the BP oil spill to mock the company’s response to the disaster and raise money for an environmental group.
This account has nearly six times the number of followers as BP’s actual corporate Twitter account @BP_America